While the data will be cheered by Hollywood executives keen for a piece of this burgeoning market, U.S. titles did not perform as well as in previous years, after a strong showing by local players. Of the top 10 biggest films of the year here, seven were Chinese.

However, the report noted that two foreign movies in particular -- Justin Lin'sFast & Furious 6 and the latest James Bond movie Skyfall -- suffered because they were released weeks after they had opened elsewhere, in order to give local films a head start, while pirates ate into revenues.

The data is expected to be updated with official figures tallied by the state-owned publication China Film News, but the numbers are very much in line with what's already in circulation, which show that China's box office total breached the $3 billion barrier in late November, hitting $3.17 billion by the end of that month.

The biggest movie in China last year was Stephen Chow's Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, which took in $205.9 million, according to the figures. Journey passed the one-billion yuan threshold ($160 million) in China in just 16 days.

This was followed by Marvel's Ironman 3, directed by Shane Black, which took in $124 million, some distance behind Chow's historical action epic. In third place was another local favorite, actress-turned-director Vicki Zhao’sdirectorial debut, So Young, which took in $117 million (710 million yuan).

The other big Hollywood moves in the top 10 were Pacific Rim, which grossed $114.7 million (694 million yuan), a fourth-place finish, and Gravity, which pulled in $72.7 million (440 million yuan), good for 10th in the list.

Fifth place went to Tsui Hark's action movie Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon, which notched $99.15 million (600 million yuan), while Feng Xiaogang'scomedy Personal Tailor, which is still showing in the cinemas, came in sixth place with $96.2 million (582 million yuan).

Peter Chan'sAmerican Dreams in China, a comedy drama seen as a Chinese version of The Social Network and stars Huang Xiaoming, Deng Chao, Tong Dawei and supermodel Du Juan, came in seventh with $87.6 million (530 million yuan).

In eighth was Xue Xiaolu'sromantic comedy Finding Mr. Right, which took in $84.28 million (510 million yuan), despite being made for just $5 million.

Guo Jingming'sTiny Times came in ninth place with $79.32 million (480 million yuan).

During the first half of 2013, Chinese films did better than expected, especially small productions like Tiny Times, So Young and Finding Mr. Right.